When a rape case should not go to court, by Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren was engulfed in controversy over the prosecution of date-rapists last night.

In an interview, the actress said women who are raped after willingly going to bed with a man cannot expect their attackers to be charged.

The 63-year-old, who won an Oscar last year for playing the Queen, said date-rape was a 'tricky area' and something men and women had to work out between themselves.

Helen Mirren: 'It's something men and women have to work out for themselves'

She said she was herself date-raped twice when she was young but did not report the attacks because 'you couldn't do that in those days'.

Her comments brought an angry reaction from Solicitor General Vera Baird, who said it was a 'dangerous' thing to say at a time when rape victims were being encouraged to come forward.

Dame Helen's comments came in an interview with GQ magazine, in which she also admitted she used to 'love' cocaine.

She said that if a woman voluntarily ended up in a man's bedroom, took her clothes off and engaged in sexual activity, she still had the right to say 'no' at the last second.

If the man ignored her, Dame Helen said, that was rape. But she continued: 'I don't think she can have that man into court under those circumstances. I guess it is one of the many subtle parts of the men-women relationship that has to be negotiated and worked out between them.'

Vera Baird, QC: 'It is a dangerous thing for her to say. We want women to report rape with confidence'

Mrs Baird, who has long fought for the rights of rape victims, said: 'It is a pity, because she is a much-admired person.

'We want women to report rape with the confidence that - albeit slowly - conviction rates are getting better. It really is a shame to cast doubt at the edges of what she thinks might not be rape.'

Dame Helen said young women now were better at standing up for themselves.

'Times have changed,' she said. 'I hate young girls going around beating each other up, but I love the fierceness of young girls nowadays, and the way they just say, '**** off', because I wish I'd been taught to say '**** off' when I was younger. I wish I'd had those words in my arsenal of self-defence.

'Instead, I was polite and didn't have the courage to say that to men who wouldn't accept "no" for an answer. I was very innocent when I went to college in London. I went to a convent school and had never spent a night away from home or gone to parties or any of that.

'I found guys were horrible, mean, rude, insulting, and so without feeling. I was looking for love and for someone who just liked me and I just met all these creeps.'

She recalled: 'I was [date-raped], yes. A couple of times. Not with excessive violence, but rather being locked in a room and made to have sex against my will. It's such a tricky area, isn't it? Especially if there is no violence.